Thirteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

My paper explores how the institutionalization of modern athletics in late colonial Kenya led to contestations over different understandings of time and productivity. Focusing primarily on archival readings from the Kenya National Archives, I show how scheduling of athletics and indeed other sporting events that accompanied institutionalization revealed competing ideals about the “proper” use of Africans’ time and energy. From concerns about the athletic calendar interfering with schooling to questions about employees taking leave to participate in sporting events, the introduction of organized sports represented a clash of values. Yet these ideological clashes around sports were also compounded by weather and climatic considerations thus highlighting the central role the environment played in these discussions. These collisions of ideas among Kenyan athletes, colonial administrators, and employers help us appreciate the role of modern athletics in not only shaping late colonial society but also the influence of these administrative infrastructures on the place of women in athletics. As many African women were already excluded from these employment and educational institutions, institutionalization of sports via schools, the army and other private institutions contributed to locking out African women from the world of athletics and to their late entry into the sport. My paper considers all these different but related angles to show the implications of organized athletics in late colonial society.